Then there was Que’er. I couldn’t figure out her special skill. An Jin told me to observe her closely, but despite watching intently, I found no flaws. Could her special skill be “having no flaws”? This was truly puzzling.
Not only in the An household, but agents were distributed throughout the Great Qi Kingdom. The Emperor and the Crown Prince might be unaware of their true identities. Initially, the An family refrained from planting agents around the emperor to demonstrate loyalty. However, as tensions between the royal family and the An family grew, they became cautious and made arrangements within the palace, with An Jin overseeing numerous deployments.
The Emperor’s wariness of the An family was warranted; even a palace maid or a favored concubine could be a secret agent. Rash actions might provoke a counterattack from the An family, which would be difficult to guard against.
Worse still, the Qi Kingdom was not alone in facing such espionage. An Jin’s intelligence indicated that Western Liang also had a similar secret department, infiltrating other countries with agents embedded in the Qi Kingdom for a decade or longer, holding significant positions, like those in the Su family. The Qi Kingdom suffered many losses in recent battles with Western Liang, prompting An Jin to investigate and uncover the infiltrators in the court.
The Su family’s identity became apparent during investigations, particularly after incidents involving fraudulent official purchases and harboring the Fifth Princess, which exposed their schemes. However, to eliminate all associated factions, they needed to avoid premature alerts.
The fraudulent official purchase was a ploy by Su Qian and Su Xi to position their own people within the military department, involving secrets of border defense. Fortunately, the impersonated victim escaped and filed a complaint. To maintain the Su family’s trust and prevent them from realizing their identity might be exposed, An Jin sought to suppress Su Xi’s crimes.
Su Xi’s arrangement to approach Princess Nan Rui and kidnap her on their wedding night aimed to provoke conflict between Western Liang and Nan Rui, thereby destroying their alliance. An Jin had discovered that the Fifth Princess was hidden in the Su residence, and his recent efforts focused on locating her without alerting the Su family.
Despite the Qi Emperor and Crown Prince’s suspicions towards the An family, An Jin remained committed to his responsibilities.
